This is a tricky time to be a young person. While college enrollment is the highest it’s ever been in the United States, tuition has spiked in the last few years, and economists predict that our generation will be financially crippled for decades from student debt. The job market for new graduates looks bleak.
I don’t know. I’ve been having a rough week.
So I decided to look to my favorite person for wisdom: my four-year-old cousin, Libby. Even though she is but a preschooler, Libby and I are both purveyors of macaroni & cheese and Spongebob reruns; but where I am fidgety and nervous about the future, Libby, as a tot, lives for the here and now. What I got from our facetime interview were a few nuggets of brilliance:
Maddie: Hey kid! How are you?
Libby: Good.
My aunt Susan, who's operating FaceTime: Ask her how she's doing!
Libby: Ummmm how are you doing?
Maddie: Great, thanks, and you?
Libby: Pretty good.
We talk for a while about what an interview is, and how it's like if you know a lot about Goldendoodles, and somebody asks you about Goldendoodles and writes about it so everyone can know. Then, we dive in.
Maddie: So how old are you?
Libby: 4
Maddie: What is your absolute favorite thing to do?
Libby: Definitely play with Harry (Harry is her large, jolly Goldendoodle).
Maddie: What is your favorite color?
Libby: Pink.
Maddie: Me too. Who is someone you really love a lot?
Libby: Harry, and Mommy, and Rich!
Suzie: Wow, Lib, that's really sweet of you.
Libby: Yeah, I love you but I like everybody in the world.
Maddie:(Heart melting) What's your favorite food?
Libby: French fries.
Libby, as it turns out, loves the simple things in life. She begins to dance around the couch.
Maddie: Hmmm. What do you not like to do?
Libby: I don't like to watch TV all day. That would be boring
Her mother and I look at each other sheepishly. We are both deeply guilty of this.
Maddie: Uh, yeah. That would be boring. So who's your favorite princess?
Libby: Sleeping Beauty
Madde: How come?
Libby: Well, um, she sleeps a lot and I like to sleep a lot.
Sleeping a lot is apparently less boring.
Maddie: Well said. Is she good?
Libby: Yes
Maddie: What does it take to be good?
Libby: Do all kinds of good stuff. A good thing is to not push and kick.
Maddie: Are some people more good than other people?
Libby: Yes.
Maddie: (Looking for complex existential issues) What is scary?
Libby: Goblins and monsters and spiders and ghosts.
Maddie: Oh no! You must not like that Halloween is coming up.
Libby: No I do like Halloween ‘cause I like candy.
Maddie: Yeah, me too. What do you think it takes to have a good life? Is it candy?
Libby: Good life? Oh, I need to tell you something. When am I coming to your house? On Halloween! It's Halloween!
Maddie: I know! I'm so excited to hang out with you! What is your costume going to be?
Libby: Spongebob. But to have a good life, you have to not do anything bad to nobody else, even to people you know.
Maddie: Anything advice for that?
Libby: No. No wait, loving.
Maddie: (heart melting further, begins to look for Libby for feminist wisdom) Are you strong? Are girls as strong as boys?
Libby: (no hesitation) Yeah. but (my mom's friend) Rich is the strongest boy in the world.
Suzie: What makes you strong?
Libby: (Beginning to jump on and off of the couch) Exercise!
Suzie: Are you strong-willed?
Libby: Yeah, but I don't know why. I just am.
Maddie: What would you say to boys who aren't nice to girls?
Libby: Don’t do that to me. I would say that.
Maddie: Anything else?
Libby: No. Nothing else. Hey did you know there is a ghost who sounds like me down the hall? It’s just a decoration ghost. It's a kid.
Maddie: I remember that ghost! That's awesome. So that ghost is a kid, but I think the people who will read this are mostly going to be kids who are almost grown-ups. What does it take to be a good grown up?
Libby: Do nothing bad. no biting people, no hitting them, or pushing them.
Maddie: I like your ideas. Should they believe in themselves? Do you believe in yourself?
Libby: Yeah.
Maddie: Why?
Libby: My mismatched socks. Pink and purple with polka dots. Look! (Proudly displays socks, which are indeed mismatched and pretty cool-looking.)
Maddie: Yeah, I definitely believe in your fashion sense.
Libby passes the phone to her mom and runs off to play with her new Barbie playset. Obviously she's got some work to do.
________
Maddie: Hey again! Your life is pretty together. You should give me advice about being a grownup. What makes YOU strong? How do you raise a strong kid?
Suzie: You have to be ambitious, believe in yourself, have confidence, I instill that in her every day. But to be strong, you need to be grateful.
I don't know, I hope I raise her to be the best version of herself. I’m just a platform to her to get her there. It’s up to her to do the rest.
Libby: (chiming in) I WAS GOODER!
Suzie: Well I'm glad you believe in yourself but I don't think it needs to be a competition.
Maddie: Is there anything that makes it hard to raise a little girl?
Suzie: Objectification; you have to overcome that. But if you believe in yourself and put out positive energy. strong women DO overcome and they choose not to let it be an obstacle. And it’s not a competition. I want to make the competition with boys feel obsolete so she doesn’t grow up realizing there’s a competition at all. She has boy friends and likes rolly pollies AND pink.
We talk some more about Halloween and socks and brilliant life advice or whatever, and then it’s time to say goodbye.
I learned a lot in this important interview. Sometimes, I think it’s important to get back to the basics; sleeping is good, biting and kicking people is bad. Maybe the world after college is abysmal, but we can certainly keep the preschool buildings blocks in mind to get us started.
